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Pew Internet Finds Web Has Little Effect On Purchasing

Contrary to what many Mashable readers might think, it seems a surprisingly small percentage of people research purchases online. Fewer still let it information on the Internet influence their buying decisions.

The results of a study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project have been released, and it was found that people are not using the Internet in quite the fashion we've all assumed. Using music purchases as an example, 83% of respondents said they still discovered new music by way of radio broadcasts, and 64% through conversation with friends/family and co-workers, while 56% found new music from going to various online tools like an artist's website and listening to it on streams. Of course, seeing as the results are published on information pooled between August 3 and September 5, 2007 among a sample of 2400 adults age 18 or older, that specific data set may not be particularly accurate. But if we're ballparking, Web streams and digital downloads from iTunes, Amazon MP3, eMusic, and others still clearly have much room to grow.

The study also goes on to say that of the people who purchased music in the past year, only 7% found online factored into their purchases, while 10% of cell phone buyers and 11% home buyers/renters shared the sentiment.

In a similar vein, Steven Musil of CNET points out a study conducted by Parks Associates that found that 30% of people have never written or sent an email. Mind you, Parks discloses that over half of these people polled were over the age of 65, and of those, 56% had no formal education, which speaks more to the digital age divide than anything else. Nonetheless a fascinating number.

As time goes on, we will probably see the number of people making purchases and performing serious purchasing on the Internet as a whole, and suffice to say that the number of people familiar with email correspondence is sure increase greatly in the next 5-10 years.

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is a leading source for news, information and resources for the Connected Generation. Mashable reports on the importance of digital innovation and how it empowers and inspires people around the world. Mashable's record 42 million unique visitors worldwide and 21 million social media followers are one of the most influential and engaged online communities. Founded in 2005, Mashable is headquartered in New York City with an office in San Francisco.